Date posted: December 19, 2014
It has come to the attention of the DLA that if you are an accredited supplier of Oasis Dental Care you may have received a letter from Oasis stating that you need to become a British Bite Mark member and either a DAMAS UK or ISO 9001 accredited member.
We wanted to let you know the easiest way to become DAMAS accredited, and inform you of the auditing time period which is required by DAMAS, as well as how simple it is to become a British Bite Mark member.
DAMAS
Firstly, becoming DAMAS accredited. The Oasis letter stipulated a deadline of 1st April 2015 to become DAMAS accredited. In order to meet this deadline you will need to look at implementing DAMAS now, as the DAMAS auditors require a 10-12 week auditing period. For instance, say we audited your laboratory on 10th March 2015 – in this case we would need to review your records from 10th December 2014.
The DLA is aware that many laboratories, although wishing to implement the DAMAS system, often struggle to put the basics in place. Therefore the DLA has designed a DAMAS Implementation System that is much easier and less time consuming in the initial stages to implement. This system has been designed for lab owners by lab owners and has been successfully implemented by hundreds of dental laboratories.
As with all quality systems, there will still be work to do to meet the DAMAS requirements, but the main bulk of the system will be set up for you in advance. The DAMAS Procedures Manual, which is the main area of the system, is already compiled for you – all you need to do is fine-tune it to ensure it describes what happens in your laboratory.
The ‘DAMAS Implementation System’ consists of:
As well as having all the information you need to hand, included as part of the package is unlimited telephone and email support from the DLA office.
It is our advice to book your DAMAS audit in as soon as possible for March/April, as DAMAS audit dates will be allocated on a first come first served basis. In order to meet the oasis deadline you need to have had your audit on or before the 1st April 2015.
Please allow at least 10 weeks’ notice to book your DAMAS audit.
The DLA office is closed for Christmas on 21st December at 12.30pm and re opening on 5th January at 9am .
If you decide that you want to be DAMAS accredited, please give the DLA office a ring on 0115 9254888 and they can talk you through the different options.
The British Bite Mark
Secondly, it is very simple to become a British Bite Mark member. The idea of the British Bite Mark was of a logo that identified custom made dental appliances manufactured in Britain. According to ‘Made in Britain’ research carried out in 2011, the British public was confused about which products were made in the UK. The DLA felt this was equally true for dental patients in the UK, who were receiving complex dental treatment without knowing where the appliances in their mouth had come from and to what standards they had been manufactured.
Therefore the DLA launched the British Bite Mark as a trademark that would help patients and professionals easily recognise that their custom made dental appliances had been manufactured in Britain to a set of high standards.
In terms of becoming a British Bite Mark member, this is FREE to all DLA members assuming you meet the criteria below:
I hereby certify that all custom made medical devices manufactured by the above named business are compliant with the rules of the Medical Devices Directive and the General Dental Council and that we are member of the Dental Laboratories Association.
In addition I accept that all products manufactured at this address meet the requirements of the British Bite Mark meaning that they have been wholly manufactured on site or have been subject to a substantial change at this site in the last phase of manufacturing.
The DLA office is closed for Christmas on 21st December at 12.30pm and re opening on 5th January at 9am .
If you have any further questions, give the DLA office a ring on 0115 9254888.
Yours sincerely,
The DLA team
Date posted: September 26, 2014
There are many advantages to have DAMAS within your lab, not least of all as an excellent way to maintain and potentially attract new business. It will help you to keep your laboratory running smoothly and not only give you peace of mind that you are complying with all the necessary MDD and MDR guidelines, but let others know this too.
Want DAMAS, but feel you don’t have the time to set it up yourself?
Like many labs you may feel you would really benefit from having DAMAS, but may feel you simply don’t have the time to implement the system yourself, if this is the case, you could consider having a consultant implement DAMAS for you.
To apply for DAMAS, arrange a consultation, or simply for more information on any area of DAMAS, ring us on 0115 925 4888.
Date posted: August 15, 2013
About the DAMAS Scheme:
The Dental Appliance Manufacturers Audit Scheme (DAMAS) is the most commonly used quality system within the dental laboratory industry that provides a framework for an effective quality management system.
DAMAS provides laboratories with a set of processes that ensure a common sense approach to the management of the organisation. The system ensures consistency and improvement of working practices, which in turn should provide products and services that meet customer’s requirements.
The purpose of the Medical Devices Directive (MDD) is to protect the patient by ensuring that all materials that go into the oral cavity have been verified for use in the laboratory and are suitable for use, including also that manufacturers (laboratories) show that they work under controlled conditions i.e. processes and traceability. DAMAS provides all this within its system, which is then verified by yearly external auditing.
DAMAS Implementation:
The DLA is often aware that many laboratories although wanting to implement the DAMAS system often struggle to put the basics of the system in place. The DLA has therefore designed a DAMAS Implementation system which is much easier and less time consuming in the initial stages to implement.
As with all quality systems there will still be work to do to meet the DAMAS requirements but the main bulk of the system will be set up for you in advance as the DAMAS Procedures Manual which is the main area of the system will be compiled for you – all you need to do is fine tune it to ensure it describes what happens in your business – which saves you time!
What does the system consist off?
The DLA has designed the system based around the popular DAMAS distance learning system and the DLA MDD systems.
The new ‘DAMAS Implementation System’ will consist of:
As well as having all the information you need to hand, included as part of the package is unlimited telephone/email support from the DLA office.
For further information on the DAMAS implementation system or with general queries telephone 0115 9254888 or email info@damas.co.uk
